1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a transparent substrate made of a rigid mineral material such as glass, this substrate having a main face that exhibits a texture in relief having a depth of at least 1 mm.
Such substrates are used in architectural applications for interior and/or exterior decoration.
The invention relates more particularly to the use of such substrates for manufacturing thermal insulation and/or solar protection glazing units. These glazing units may be intended for equipping buildings, especially with a view to reducing air-conditioning load and/or preventing excessive overheating (glazing called “solar control” glazing) and/or reducing the amount of energy dissipated to the outside (glazing called “low-E or “low-emissivity” glazing), brought about by the ever increasing use of glazed surfaces in buildings.
These glazing units may also be integrated into glazing units having particular functionalities, such as, for example, heating glazing or electrochromic glazing.
2. Description of Related Art
One type of stack of thin films known for giving substrates such properties consists of a metallic functional layer having reflection properties in the infrared and/or in solar radiation, especially a metallic functional layer based on silver or on a metal alloy containing silver.
These stacks of thin films are deposited industrially on vacuum deposition lines, in particular using sputtering technology, optionally enhanced by a magnetic field, known as “magnetron” sputtering.
A person skilled in the art has always considered, until now, that thin-film stacks having reflection properties in the infrared and/or in solar radiation could only be deposited onto smooth surfaces.
By “smooth surface”, a person skilled in the art understands that the surface may have a roughness, especially an RMS roughness, of the order of magnitude of the physical thickness of the layers.
However, a person skilled in the art has always considered that the thin-film stacks having reflection properties in the infrared and/or in solar radiation could not be deposited onto textured surfaces and in particular onto a main face of a substrate exhibiting a texture in relief having a depth of at least 1 mm or more.